


Avatar: The Age of Kaia

by froznmangos



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Airbending & Airbenders, Bending (Avatar), Earthbending & Earthbenders, Firebending & Firebenders, I love this universe, POV Female Character, Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Post-Avatar: The Legend of Korra, There Is No War In Ba Sing Se, Waterbending & Waterbenders, new team avatar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 08:35:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23848294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froznmangos/pseuds/froznmangos
Summary: In a civilization united by past avatars, the spirits and humans lived in peace. There were benders and non-benders. Benders possessed the ability to harness one of the four elements: earth, water, fire, or air. Only the Avatar could harness all four. Every generation must experience it, the few years after the death of an Avatar where the world is, essentially, Avatar-less. This is the world waterbender, Kaia, lives in and she will step up in this vulnerable age.





	Avatar: The Age of Kaia

**Author's Note:**

> Book 1: Water

Kaia laid in her bed, somewhere floating between awake and still in a dream. She dreamed of a war. She fought valiantly and emerged on the other side as a decorated soldier. She would train hard and become the best. She had never experienced a capable Avatar in her lifetime. Korra, though strong until the end, served more of a diplomatic role in her old age. And the current Avatar was an unknown baby, so Kaia knew there would not be a qualified Avatar for years. She was going to have to be the front line for the Water Tribe while the world was vulnerable. Kaia would prove that the Northern Water Tribe wouldn’t need an Avatar. Kaia rummaged around her drawers for something to wear and settled on something loose and sturdy that she would be able to train in.

Having just experienced an Avatar from the water tribe, waterbender morale was at an all-time high. Kaia appreciated waterbending enough. It had healing properties, and could do incredible, though illegal things, like blood bending. Blood bending was a fairly new concept, within a few generations, but waterbenders had been healers almost since waterbenders existed. She did not want to just be a healer, and without blood bending, waterbending could feel, at times, limited. She hated the constraint of needing water to be present in order for bending to take place. Kaia envied the firebenders’ ability to conjure their element from thin air. The firebenders were never without a weapon. Many waterbenders, especially the soldiers, carried a canteen of water with them wherever they went. But there would always be limitations to this. One could become easily separated with their canteen, there was only so much water that would fit into the canteen, etc. It was not ideal. 

From the top of the front wall to the city, Kaia could see her uncle’s ship breaching the horizon. Koba was a captain in the Fire Nation’s navy and having her father on the Northern Water Tribe’s council had been a key tool in maintaining peace between the two nations. Her uncle supported her combat aspirations and seemed to recognize the cynicism Kaia had regarding the Avatar. 

“Kaia,” Ryu, one of the young soldiers Kaia often sparred with, called as he approached her from behind. “You know you’re not supposed to be up here.” 

“What, are you going to snitch?” She refused to be scolded. “Go on, go tell your commander.” 

Ryu rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying-” 

“That, what, I’m not a fully fledged warrior? That I’m not a proper healer? That I don’t wear enough blue?” 

“You should definitely wear more blue.”

Kaia playfully punched Ryu in the gut and pulled some water from the canteen on her belt as a looming threat in case it was needed. She leaned on the barricade overlooking the sea and brought her canteen-water down towards her finger tips. She felt the link between her fingers, stroking the air, and the icy water hovering just a few inches above her hand. It felt like she had a string attached from her fingers to each of the particles of water and she watched the clear liquid bend with her hand. 

“My uncle is going to train me, you know. He is going to teach me how to actually fight. The women in the Fire Nation can fight and be warriors so at least he supports me.” Kaia threw an accusatory side glance at Ryu. 

“There are women in our forces, too, Kaia.” Like, three women. And hundreds of men. “I’m sure eventually you will be able to join.” 

“We are the same age,” Kaia reminded him. “And I don’t want to have to wait.” 

Ryu was not going to continue arguing with her. He knew well from experience how little it helped to diffuse the tension. The fire in Kaia blazed and it was going to take more than the entire Northern Water Tribe to tell her no. He waved a hand at her, a white flag of surrender. 

Figures, Kaia thought. Uncle Kobo’s ship was preparing to dock. There was no more reason to stay and try to work up Ryu, so she excused herself. She ran, feeling the cold beneath the leather of her shoes. She felt the ice under her; it breathed and pulsed and she could feel it move just slightly under her feet as if she was a light magnetic force pulling at the ground. She scrambled down the stairs of the wall and through the main gate where the docks were for the larger ships. She made it just in time to see her uncle unboarding his ship, guards from the Water Tribe’s forces already greeting him. 

Kaia pushed past them and leapt into a hug. The warmth that he radiated should have melted the ice kingdom in front of him, but it didn’t. Instead it melted Kaia’s anger and frustration from her morning and talk with Ryu. 

Kobo was an exceptionally large man and it seemed he became larger each time Kaia saw him, which she thought was odd since she was pretty sure she was growing too. Each time she saw him, Kaia thought this would be the time his large frame would keep him from fighting, would keep him from training her. And it never did. Despite his girth, Kobo was nimble and quick on his feet, always a worthy opponent. This visit was no different. 

As Kaia and her uncle walked to the training grounds, he updated her on the happenings of the Fire Nation’s navy and she told him about the night she snuck out with Ryu to go play with koala-otters. The training arena was typically reserved for the soldiers to practice their bending, but Kaia sparred with the guys pretty regularly and they allowed her to train there in exchange. 

Uncle Kobo forged flames in his palms and, like spears, hurled them at her. Kaia dodged his attacks, parrying with her own canteen-water shots. Each elemental bender had a form of fighting that brought the best out of their bending. When Kaia was younger she had been taught the fighting style of waterbenders, smooth, fluent strokes for attacks and steady, focused hands for healing. The waterbenders depended on their hands to guide their attacks and lead their connection with the element. In the past five years or so, as Kaia had expressed interest in being a warrior to her uncle, he had begun to train her. She began to pick up his style and techniques. Like Kobo, she began to use her feet more to draw power from the water and ice below her. She had spent hours upon hours training her mind to focus on anywhere there was water in the air or ground, much like how a well-trained earthbender can connect with the ground below or around them. 

During this sparring match with Uncle Kobo, Kaia used her feet to pull ice and water from the ground, cartwheeling it up and over towards her opponent. Kobo’s flame burned loud and bright as it expanded to engulf the ice chunk. 

“You are getting much better at using your feet to control the ice,” Kobo shouted from across the training arena. Kaia nodded, trying to maintain composure, despite the sense of pride swelling in her chest. Bending the ice with her feet was much more straightforward than bending, say, her canteen-water. Since it was suspended in the air, her feet fought to control or even create a connection with the water. Kaia’s hands puppeted the water effortlessly, extinguishing her uncle’s fire attacks. 

“I think that’s enough for the day,” Kobo said, snuffing out his fire after a particularly rough and unsuccessful deflection of ice. Kaia lowered her hands from an offensive stance and bowed in gratitude. 

“Thank you for training me.” 

“You grow stronger each day, young Kaia. You will make a great warrior one day.” 

“One day? I want to be a warrior now,” Kaia groaned. 

“A good warrior is strong,” Kobo put his hand on her shoulder, “but a great warrior is patient. Now is not your time, but your time will come.”

Kaia did not want to argue too much in fear that he would stop visiting to train her. She lowered her head. “Thank you, Uncle. I will continue to train my mind.” 

Kobo looked over Kaia’s shoulder and removed his hand. Her father's voice hit the back of her neck and sent a chill down her spine. “Hello, brother.” Councilman Bokah and Captain Kobo did not look like brothers. Bokah was tall and thin and rigid, while Kobo was on the shorter side, stout, and radiated a warmth that transcended his fire bending. Bokah had spoken to Kaia on multiple occasions about how her behavior and role in the community reflected on him as a councilman. No denying, he was an esteemed and respected member of the council and quite close with the chief of the Northern Tribe. But Kaia grew tired of being the councilman’s well-behaved daughter. Her Uncle Kobo was also well-known and respected among both the Fire Nation and Water Tribe. Despite his active role in the military, he was a peaceful man who always tried to act diplomatically before violently. 

“To what do we owe this visit?” Kaia’s father shook Kobo’s hand like he was greeting a distant acquaintance for the first time in years. Kobo had just visited a couple months ago to train Kaia and work out peace agreements with a nearby tribe. 

“I came to see my favorite niece.” Kobo wrapped his arm around Kaia’s shoulders and she stiffened as disapproval fell over her father’s face.

“You came all the way here just to see Kaia?” Kaia tried not to be offended by the chill in his voice. She wiggled out from under her uncle’s heavy arm and bowed towards her father. 

“He came at my request to help me train. I apologize for not informing you ahead of his arrival.” 

“What are you training for?” Bokah raised an eyebrow almost in amusement. She could feel him mocking her. 

“Nothing,” Kaia said quietly. 

“So,” he paused, “Kobo traveled all the way from the Fire Nation to help you train for nothing?” 

And even quieter she said, “Yes”. 

“Seems like a waste of his time, don’t you think? Your mother and the tutor have been looking for you all morning. You were supposed to be working on your healing skills this morning-” 

“She can practice healing another time,” Kobo interrupted. “I am not always here to help train her in combat. Don’t you want her to be well rounded?”  
Kobo and her father exchanged more argumentative words over her head. Kaia could feel a scream building up in her throat, and accumulating in her chest. Empowered by her training session with her uncle, but stifled by her father’s harsh patronization, Kaia pushed past both men. She would let them discuss her feelings and actions and intentions without her. It was nothing new. Hot anger flushed her face and filled her veins as she stormed back to her home where, as her father had said, Kaia’s mother and tutor awaited her return. 

“We were just looking for you,” her tutor said gently. Her tutor, who was an elderly woman, and her mother, who was a less elderly woman, sat at a table and sipped from cups of tea. Kaia apologized upon entering the home and took a seat next to the tutor. 

“I am ready to begin my lessons.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am going to try to post a chapter once or twice a week. I love this universe so I am excited to get this story out :) 
> 
> Twitter: @froznmangos


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